Homework vs. Sleep: A Cause of Stress in Teens (And Younger Kids)

Homework stresses kids out; there is no way around this fact. The combination of heavy homework loads and early school start times is a major cause of sleep deprivation and consequent stress in teens, but this can be a problem even in younger kids.

When we moved to Connecticut, I was struck by the perception of some parents that my son’s classmates that he and his peers were not getting enough homework. I was shocked; these kids were in first grade at the time. Fortunately, my son’s teacher have resisted this pressure.

Another factor which can cause sleep deprivation is homework. Some studies suggest that the amount of homework which teenagers receive has stayed constant over time. I don’t pretend to be an educational expert, but I frequently see children and teenagers who have hours and hours of homework every night. This seems most common in teenagers who are striving to get into competitive colleges. This is piled on top of multiple extracurricular activities– sports, clubs, music lessons, and public service. Of course, the patients and families I see in clinic tend to be the people with the greatest difficulties with sleep. So I decided to look into this issue a bit more.

How common is excessive homework, anyway?

The recommendation of the National Education Association is that children received no more than ten minutes of homework per grade level. So a high school senior would max out at two hours of homework per night. An analysis published by the Brookings Institute concluded that there has been little change in the amount of homework assigned between 1984 and 2012. About 15% of juniors and seniors did have greater than two hours of homework per night. Interestingly, the author also referenced a study which showed that about 15% of parents were concerned about excessive homework as well. This would suggest that the problem of excessive homework is occurring only in about one in six teenagers.

There is a perception that homework loads are excessive. This certainly may be the case in some communities or in high pressure schools. Teenagers certainly think that they have too much homework; here is a well researched piece written by a teenager who questions the utility of large amounts of homework.

How beneficial is homework?

The US is a relatively homework intense country, but does not score as well as countries where homework is less common. In high school age kids, homework does have benefits. However, 70 minutes total seems to be the sweet spot in terms of benefits; homework in excess of this amount is associated with decreasing test scores.

Homework clearly can have benefits– development of good organizational habits, review of materials, and improving skills such as reading and critical thinking. Homework should be assigned, however, with the goal of helping children learning, not because the teacher or school has decided that a certain amount should be assigned nightly, or because some parents want their children to get more homework. Alfie Kohn, an educational leader and a big critic of homework. published a great article on rethinking homework. Here’s another thoughtful perspective on homework by a history teacher named Glen Whitman.

When To Worry About Excessive Homework

Obviously, I am not an educational expert. My review of this topic suggests that most children do not have an undue burden of homework. Thus, the best way to help teenagers get more sleep is to start school later. However, there are a subset of teenagers who may have an excessive amount of homework. I would define that is over two hours of homework a night, or an amount of homework that keeps children up late at night with regularity, especially given that getting enough sleep is critical for learning. No child should have to regularly decide between homework and sleep. These factors can contribute to excessive homework:

Unreasonable amounts of assigned homework (10 minutes/grade level)

Excessive extracurricular activities leading to a late homework start time

Learning problems such as ADHD or dyslexia, especially if they have not yet been diagnosed.

Some final advice:

Teenagers: If you cannot get your homework done at night without staying up past ten or eleven on school nights, please talk to your parents about this. They can help you. Also, recognize that there are diminishing returns; I got the worst grade I ever got in college on a biochemistry exam after pulling my one and only all-nighter. Going to sleep earlier on the night before a test might be more beneficial than sacrificing sleep to study.

Parents: Be conscious of how late your teens are staying up and how much time they are spending on their homework. If it seems excessive, please review your child’s schedule with him or her, and have a frank conversation with your child’s teachers.

Educators: Ask your students how long they are spending on homework. If they seem sleepy in class, talk about this issue with them and their parents. Try to make sure that the culture of your school is such that homework is assigned for clear educational benefits, and not simply for the sake of doing so.

I would love to hear your perspectives on these issues. Of course, to paraphrase “Bones” McCoy, “I’m a sleep doctor, not a teacher.” However, if I was asking my patients to do a nightly treatment that required an hour or more of their time, I would have to be absolutely sure that it was helpful. I’m not convinced that homework meets that standard. Do I have this issue all wrong? Let me know in the comments. Is the homework load excessive in your town? I would love to hear.

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Comments

I agree in part. My child (who is freshman at your school now) and who took pretty much all AP/Honors classes did, at times, have an excessive work load. It wasn’t so much that what was asked by each teacher was excessive; it was that there is no coordination among teachers in terms of regular homework, tests, and projects. So the teachers have no idea that the totality of the work for any given day might be excessive. There are a handful of teachers at the school that give an assignment for the week or month, giving students flexibility to less on a busy day, and more on less busy day.

I think there are activities and there are activities. The student referenced above did not do athletics and that makes a HUGE difference. She was very involved in a few clubs and was (is) a serious musician. So even though she was busy all day Sat and half of Sunday with music school and orchestra, on weekdays a coach was not dictating how many hours and when she would have to practice.

I really think you must factor in the role of athletics. I am not anti-athletics (number 2 child is an athlete), but the practice time demand (generally 5 days/week) put on athletes coupled with games that may require two hours of travel and getting back at 6pm or 8pm does then make it difficult to do the homework plus get enough sleep.

Last, I’ve noticed that some kids are really a lot more efficient at getting work done than others. Some of my kids’ friends seem to spend more time on work without benefit necessarily of higher grades. And certainly homework takes a lot longer to do if you are checking email, texting, going on FB, etc. I have to remind my kids -and myself – that it isn’t an efficient way to work.

I think it’s great to look at homework and sleep, but I think homework v. sleep doesn’t take into account some of the issue around both. Great that you’re bringing this up!

Thanks so much Valerie! This is tremendously insightful. I agree with you that this is a complex issue. In terms of efficiency, I also think that a well rested kid gets homework done faster and gets to bed earlier. This was the experience in Minneapolis when they moved school start times later.

I just read your article and saw your video regarding homework vs sleep – very well said! I remember hours and hours of homework in high school and not getting enough sleep. I have been a 4th grade teacher here in Florida for 13 years and feel the same way as you in regards for homework, even at the elementary level. My school is a late starting school, we go from 9:30 until 3:50. On some evenings, some of my students are not even getting home until 4:30/5:00. I would never ask them to do hours of homework. From the minute my students enter my room each morning, I am motivating, educating and basically keeping them going non-stop all day long (except for lunch and recess). I go home on a nightly basis exhausted from teaching them, I can’t imagine how exhausted they are from learning all day. I truly do not think it is fair to then have them continue to go, go, go into the evening. That is their down time, time with their friends and most importantly time with their family and to basically decompress from the day. They need that. I feel they have the rest of their lives to be on the go continuously. In my career and my son’s educational career (which he is only 10 years old) I have come across teachers that don’t give any homework, to teachers that give 2-3 hours of homework each night. It’s very frustrating trying to get a young child who has learned all day long in school to then again sit down to do hours of homework each night. Their brains are shutting off and telling them to stop. Anyways I could go on and on about this – hopefully things will change for the better and allow our youth to enjoy life. They have adulthood to be tied down with responsibilities. I truly enjoy your articles!!

The reason I’m on this website was to look for some guidance as to whether my sophomore daughter’s homework load is normal. The takeaway – no, it’s not. I’d say she averages 3-4 hours a day, but some days are significantly worse than others. She’s in all Honors classes, and she’s getting good grades (5.79 GPA out of 6.00), but she gets about 5-6 hours a night sleep, sometimes less. Then, she spends 12 hours sleeping on Saturday and Sunday. From what I’m hearing, the juniors at her school that are in the Honors/AP courses average about 3-4 hours a night sleep. Of course, the logical thing to do is to discourage students from taking such a punishing course load. Unfortunately, every college admissions officer tells these kids that they need to have a “rigorous” course load in high school. Specifically, the admissions offices have been quite clear that if there’s an AP class offered, and the student doesn’t take it, it looks like they’re not challenging themselves. Add that to the fact that colleges want “well rounded” students who are athletes, leaders, community volunteers, etc., it’s no wonder these kids aren’t sleeping. My daughter is completely convinced that she won’t get into the schools she wants if she doesn’t take all of the Honors/AP classes and do well in them. Simply put, high school sucks for these kids. My daughter’s health is being ruined, and I’m seemingly powerless to stop it. The schools (not just my daughter’s, but every high school that I know of), want these honors kids to get into the college of their choice, so the teachers push and push and push. It breaks my heart to watch my daughter go through this, and I’ve repeatedly tried to talk her out of the AP classes, but she is insistent. So sad…